The Kid
by 2amWritersClub
Summary: Morgan runs into an old friend who has been appointed the job of teaching self defence to the new recruits at Quantico. Can he help him with the most hopeless pupil he's ever taught? Set pre Season One.


Morgan runs into an old friend who has been appointed the job of teaching self defence to the new recruits at Quantico. Can he help him with the most hopeless pupil he's ever taught? Set pre Season One.

I do not own the characters of Criminal Minds, they belong to CBS, and it would be laughable to assume any profit is being made from this work of fiction.

**The Kid**

'Oh man! No it isn't! _No it isn't! _ Derek Morgan?'

Morgan heard a deep voice echo around the locker room and turned, dropping the towel from his face to hook it around his neck. The training rooms, deep in the basement of the FBI's Quantico headquarters, were usually pretty dead at this time of night and the unexpected voice calling his name made him jump like a kid at his first scary movie. He felt a surge of irritation which disappeared immediately as he recognised the man walking towards him with both arms held out.

'Dan Walsh? Danny?' Morgan gasped as he was pulled into a deep hug by one of his oldest and most neglected friends. 'I heard you were jumping over to this side of the country but I didn't know when.'

Morgan wrapped his arms around his friend's huge shoulders as he felt himself nearly pulled off his feet by the strength of the hug. Laughing he slapped the older man's back and stepped away, taking a good look at the giant in front of him.

'I've been here about a month.' Danny said. 'I thought I'd run into you a lot sooner than this. You been busy or is your regime a little looser than it used to be?'

Morgan grinned. 'It's looser than I'd _like_. I try to get down here every other day but we've had cases back to back and they can take anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks if we hit a bad one. '

'You still flying high with the BAU?' Danny asked.

'That's right.' Morgan said.

'I never really figured you for a '_thinking above action'_ guy Derek, I gotta be honest.' Danny laughed again and slapped Morgan playfully on the shoulder.

Morgan shook his head. 'Don't worry old man. I still do my fair share of kicking in doors.' Derek's smile faded a little. 'How's Michelle? She moved over here with you?' Morgan asked tentatively.

'She sure has. I think getting away from California did both of us the world of good and she has her sisters here. She's working again and doing the interiors for _every single room_ of the new house.' Danny smiled.

'Glad to hear it.' Morgan paused. 'I really was sorry to hear about Ben. I wanted more than anything to be able to make his funeral but... I'm sorry man.'

'Derek, let me ask you this. What was Ben doing the last time you saw him?' Danny asked.

Morgan laughed. 'He was ragging on his old man and cheating his big sister at softball.'

'And that's the way I want you to remember my son Derek.' Danny replied.

They were quiet for a moment before Morgan continued. 'So, I take it you're back running rookie training?'

'Sure am and I'd like to say that they get better each year but boy, some of these clowns are as bad as you were.' Danny laughed and dodged a friendly swipe from Morgan.

'I was your best pupil and you know it old man.' Morgan laughed.

'Sadly you're right. You were a good kid Derek Morgan, still are I'll bet. Hey, you should spot me sometime, when I'm running a class. Some of these kids could benefit from seeing someone with moves like yours. How about my Monday morning class? If you're around just drop in, 10.30 sharp.' Danny said.

'Really?' Morgan raised his eyebrows.

'Sure. It couldn't hurt. If nothing else it'll give you a few laughs.'

'They can't be that bad?' Morgan said.

'Nah, they're not, on the whole, but I do have this one kid. I have no idea how the hell he got through the selection program. I'd have some fun placing bets on how quick he's gonna wind up dead once he hits the field if I wasn't so damn worried about him.'

'Seriously?' Morgan said.

'Seriously. It's like teaching goddamn Bambi to fight.' The older man laughed.

* * *

Morgan didn't expect to be able to take Danny up on his offer of sitting in on his class the following week. He expected to be jetting to another community cowering under the pall of a killer on the loose. He expected to spend the weekend living out of his go bag in a cruddy hotel with paper thin walls, having his scant hours of sleep ruined by Gideon's snoring as it echoed from the next room. What he hadn't expected was a full weekend doing nothing but sleeping in his own king sized bed, taking Clooney for a few good runs and checking out his latest rat hole of a property and drawing up some plans to turn it into something inhabitable. He hadn't expected his personal life to be handed back to him and, whilst it took some getting used to, by the time Monday morning rolled around he felt rested and energised enough to get to the office early enough to get ahead on his increasing stack of paperwork and free up a little time for Danny's cadet class.

Taking the next file from the top of his stack Morgan groaned. Maxine Kowalski. They'd wrapped up her case a couple of weeks back and he'd filed the paperwork two days later, a whole forty eight hours inside of the bureaus statutory turnaround time, but Gideon had handed it back. Kowalski was a rare breed of UnSub. Not only was she a woman, her chosen method of kill was long distance and this had thrown all of the team for a loop, especially Gideon who was determined that LDSK's were _not_ women. Morgan wasn't so sure. He had seen enough to know that there were no absolutes on the job but Gideon was adamant. They had argued about it, Gideon still not relenting even when they linked her back to Charles Kowalski, another serial killer, another LDSK and Maxine Kowalski's grandfather. Gideon had passed Maxine's file back with a post-it stuck to the front.

_Get the Charles Kowalski file_

Morgan sighed and pushed back from his desk. Gideon's abrupt instruction irritated him. Now he'd have to go downstairs to the archives.

* * *

The archives were in the basement along with the training rooms but where Morgan felt at home in the musk scented gym areas and locker rooms he hated the archives with their tall stacks, permeating odour of dry, yellowing paper and creepy archivists.

Quantico employed a large section of civilian staff. There were the analysts, technical analysts, clerical workers, accountants, consultants and a whole host more and generally they were a decent crowd of people and Morgan got on with them, but the archivists, well, they were just plain weird and every time he had to converse with any of them he couldn't help but profile them a little and mentally tag them as potential UnSubs.

As he moved through the stacks Morgan relaxed a little. It was only 7.30 and so far he hadn't run into any of the staff.

'Maybe the Morlock don't get up this early.' He muttered to himself, the words echoing around the stacks.

'Herbert George Wells.' A voice called out making Morgan jump and crack his elbow on the metal shelving.

Looking in the direction of the voice Morgan saw an impossibly skinny kid perched cross legged on top of one of the reading tables at the end of the row of stacks.

'What?' Morgan said, rubbing his elbow.

'The Morlock. They're the underground race of people in the HG Wells novel The Time Machine. First published in 1895. It's a relatively short piece of work at only thirty-two thousand words.'

'I know who they are kid.' Morgan snapped. His head reeling at the speed at which the kid talked.

'Is that how you see the archivists?' The kid said as he puffed out a small, nervous laugh. 'It _would_ be funny but then I'm unsure exactly who would be the butt of the joke as the Morlock were responsible for feeding and clothing the beautiful but essentially ignorant Eloi who lived above ground and whilst everyone upstairs is unarguably already clothed and fed one could view the information that the archivists hold and impart as being akin to the Morlock's food and warmth could you not? Would that then make the Agents the banal Eloi, only able to function because of the socially unacceptable Morlock Archivists?'

'What?' Morgan repeated, feeling somewhat off balance.

The kid stared at him from behind the ugliest glasses Morgan had ever seen and then his smile disappeared and he flushed, his eyes darting away from Morgan's face. His hand nervously tucking a string of hair behind his ear.

'Sorry.' The kid said. 'If you're looking for something in particular I can tell you where it is.'

'OK. Thanks kid, and hey, I wasn't meaning anything by the Morlock comment.' Morgan said.

The kid hopped off the table and half heartedly attempted to tuck one half of his shirt into his too short pants whilst leaving the other half dangling from beneath the hem of an ugly maroon striped sweater.

The kid frowned and wrinkled his nose. 'You don't need to apologise. I'm not an archivist and as I already pointed out your joke was unclear in its intended target.'

Morgan shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts which were rapidly becoming scrambled every time the kid opened his mouth.

'If you're not an archivist how you gonna tell me where to find what I'm looking for?' Morgan said.

'There's a plan. The archivists let me see it. I remembered it.' The kid said simply. 'What do you need to find?'

'Charles Kowalski. It's a BAU file' Morgan said.

The kids face flashed a very brief but startlingly brilliant smile and his hands fluttered in front of him. 'You're BAU. I have so many questions I could ...'

Morgan held up his hand. 'I'm kind of in a hurry kid.' Morgan said, cringing inwardly as the kids face flushed again and his eyes broke contact with Morgan's and darted across the shelving behind them.

'Look, maybe I'll run into you in the cafeteria one day and if I have time you can ask me all you want.' Morgan said, knowing that he'd never eat in the cafeteria, even if he did have the time.

'Oh. That's... thanks... I don't go in there, but thanks ...' The kids hand darted to his hair again. 'Anyway, Kowalski. You're in the wrong place. You need the fourth floor storage room. That's where all the old BAU files are.' The kid said as he gave Morgan a stiff little wave and moved away, back down the stack.

Morgan's eyes closed briefly as he shook his head at the thought of his pointless trip. 'Thanks kid ...' he started but the kid was already gone.

* * *

Morgan dragged his gym bag from his locker and began to change, smiling as he listened in on the small group of cadet's conversation. Nothing changed. Get a bunch of guys in a locker room and they could be high school jocks, middle aged dads at the racket ball court or old timers getting their sweats on for their senior's fitness class and the talk would always range from how many reps they could do or balls they could hit to how they'd tuned their cars and which women they'd like to hit on.

The cadets were no different and Morgan enjoyed listening to their banter. It made him nostalgic for his high school football team, so much so that he was thinking about taking a trip home to visit his Momma as soon as work allowed. He was pulled from his thoughts as the noise in the room dropped and a couple of snorts of suppressed laughter punctuated the air.

'Don't make eye contact guys, but it looks like _Rainman's_ back.' One of the cadets said quietly.

'Knock it off Brian. What are you, still in Junior High?' Another cadet replied.

'He just pushes my buttons and he does it on purpose.' Brian complained under his breath.

'No, he doesn't. He's harmless, and if you actually spoke to him instead of being an ass you'd find out that he's really interesting to talk to. He knows all this _stuff_. Seriously, he's pretty amazing'

'You know Don, I coulda sworn we were just talking about your weekend conquest of Cadet Anne Wilde but are you sure she's not just a beard and you were really hanging out at the library with Dr Raymond Reid?' Brian laughed.

Morgan glanced across at the laughing man just in time to see him nod and call out loudly across the room to another cadet who appeared to be attempting to get changed _in_ his locker, his body was wedged so closely to the open door.

'Hey Raymond, good weekend? You do any bar hopping? Got any hot pickups you wanna tell us about?'

Silence.

'Come on, spill. It's this or cars and damn, we've all seen your car so ...'

The locker door creaked shut to reveal the kid from the archives. He was wearing FBI sweats which he somehow managed to make look spectacularly bad. He fidgeted with the sleeves which were slightly too short and shrugged his shoulders under the width of fabric that was a lot too wide. Morgan's eyes travelled down the skinny body and came to rest on the least cool pair of sneakers he had seen since Kindergarten. He stifled a laugh by pulling his own sweatshirt over his head.

'I spent the weekend catching up on some reading actually so, no. No bars. Or girls.' The kid said.

'Exciting stuff Raymond, exciting stuff.' Brian patted the skinny kid's cheek as he walked past, heading for the training room door. He stopped when the kid called after him.

'I suppose it was a little boring but as we all received confirmation of our assignments on Friday I wanted to ensure I was armed with an abundance of preparedness for when I start. I'm sure you're the same Brian, in fact I could recommend some highly informative past case files which you might find helpful for your transition in to white collar fraud. That is the assignment you received, isn't it?'

Morgan felt a flare of tension in the air and his eyes darted to the kid's face. For a moment he felt sure he had taken a verbal jab at the older cadet but when he searched the kids face there wasn't a trace of guile to be seen as he looked up from under his long hair and gazed openly at Brian.

The room had fallen silent, the other cadets filing past Brian who had been left inadvertently holding the door for the others.

As quickly as it descended the tension in the atmosphere broke as Brian shoved the door and stepped backwards into the training room.

'See ya' in there Doc. Maybe Walsh'll pair us up again.'

The door swung shut and Brian was gone.

* * *

Danny did pair the kid with the mouthy cadet. Morgan watched the kid's face as the sparing partners were read out and he noted the brief flash of irritation that played across his features when Danny shouted 'Nolan and Reid'. While the class split into their pairings Danny took centre stage in front of the mats.

'Good Morning class. I have great pleasure in introducing today one of my ex pupils SSA Derek Morgan. He's gonna be spotting you guys this morning. He's one of the best at hand to hand I have ever had the pleasure of teaching and he's taken time out of his impossibly busy schedule to be here with you. My advice is make the most of him. _Use him_. If you are unsure of what you are doing _ask_ _him_. And remember, what do we always say?' Danny barked.

'The only stupid question is the one we don't ask.' The class intoned back as a one.

'That's right. I don't wanna hear about any of you idiots winding up dead on day one 'cause of something you didn't pick up in _my_ training rooms. Ya hear me.'

'Yes Agent Walsh.' The class replied en masse.

Morgan bowed his head and smiled. 'You're _still _using those lines?' He whispered in his friend's ear.

'Well they worked on you didn't they?' Danny laughed back quietly.

'Damn right they did. I wasn't scared of dying but I was helluva scared of you catching up to me in heaven and kicking my ass.' Morgan said, smiling.

Danny raised his eyebrows as he moved to start directing the class. 'You seriously think we're getting in heaven son? You forgotten that weekend bender in LA? The one with that stripper and you in the emergency room?'

Danny laughed at the look of annoyance on Derek's face as he clapped his hands, calling the class to attention.

'Alright, let's start with the warm up and then fall into the basic moves we ended with last time.

Derek fielded questions for an hour or so, sometimes stepping in to take over with a particular pairing, sometimes hanging back and verbally advising. After a while he dropped out and snagged a bottle of water from the stack next to the door.

He'd been watching the kid intermittently the whole time and he could see why Danny was concerned. Put simply, he sucked. Derek had passed both the kid and Nolan a couple of times and asked if the needed any pointers. The kid had made some indistinguishable noise and waved him off whilst Nolan had almost squared up to Morgan, his arms folded across his chest.

'Not necessary SSA Morgan Sir.' Nolan had said.

Morgan had to hide his smirk. Guys like Nolan were hard to teach. They thought they had nothing to learn. The kid though, he had everything to learn. The profiler in Morgan told him that if Nolan hadn't been around the kid would have bombarded him with questions.

Sipping from his bottle Morgan watched as Nolan put the kid on the mat again and again and again. Nolan was enjoying himself, standing over the kid every time he had him on his knees, taking every opportunity to take a dominant stance over him. There was something else though, something that made Morgan intrigued. Although he kept landing the kid heavily on the floor, over and over again, Nolan looked frustrated. Something was missing for him and the more Morgan watched the more he understood what it was. The kid refused to be cowed. Sure he was getting his ass handed to him but his head never bowed, he never asked for a time out and like the goddamn energiser bunny he was climbing back to his feet after every fall and it was annoying the hell out of Nolan.

Morgan made a note to advise Danny to split them up next time. He didn't need a profile to know how hot a guy like Nolan would blow when he got tired of not getting the emotional response he wanted. He didn't need a profile to know that Nolan would smack the kid silly if he had the chance.

* * *

Morgan's luck on the case front held out long enough for him to attend Danny's next cadet class the following Wednesday afternoon. He was a little late and wasn't surprised to find the locker room empty. He was surprised to see the kid wandering in after him, a good ten minutes after the start of the class.

The kid looked tired, the oddest dark circles shadowing his eyes that reminded Morgan of a character from a Tim Burton movie. He was changing slowly and seemed completely unaware of Morgan's presence until Morgan spoke directly behind him.

'Hurry up kid. Being late for class won't do you any favours and believe me, you need all the help you can get.'

Morgan gave the kid an expectant look as he walked into the training room leaving him behind, struggling with the buttons on his sweater vest.

* * *

Morgan had been running some moves with one of the female cadets. She was a good student and had Morgan on the mats a couple of times which was no mean feat since she was a foot shorter than him. Feigning old age Morgan paired her off with one of her peers and went to grab a bottle of water. He was taking a long pull from the bottle and surveying the class as Danny drew them to a stop and started re-pairing them for a different exercise, when he realised that the kid still hadn't come in. Morgan felt a brief surge of irritation. Tardiness had always got to him. When your momma drilled into you how being late showed a lack of respect for others, how could it not?

When Morgan stepped back into the locker room the kid was on his cell phone, one hand tugging through his too long hair, his head shaking slowly.

'_No ... just, it's not like that at all. I really think you should let me just speak to... yes, you can. I promise you, it's nothing like you're imagining... Just please...please, you have to ...'_

'Kid!' Morgan barked.

'_I have to go mom. I'm sorry, sorry...' _The kid snapped the phone shut, tossed it into his open gym bag and scurried past Morgan into the training room, his eyes on the floor.

'Dr Reid, you managed to join us.' Danny greeted the late comer.

The kid flushed and stepped into line on the mats while Morgan took his place next to Danny out front.

'He's here. Seems he needed to talk to his momma more than he needed to be on time to class but once I loosened his apron strings a little he managed to grace us with his presence.' Morgan said.

Morgan hadn't spoken unkindly but the look the kid flashed him as a ripple of laughter floated around the room made Morgan wish he'd kept his mouth shut. He struggled to identify the look at first. He definitely saw a flash of embarrassment and some anger but what got to him was the hint of disappointment which made Morgan feel like nothing more than a schoolyard bully, especially when he heard Nolan call the kid a mommy's boy as he slapped him on the back and hooked a muscled arm around his neck in anything but the friendly, rough housing manner that the move portrayed.

After the class was over Morgan hung around the locker rooms waiting until the kid was changed and ready to leave. Once he did Morgan followed him through the maze of corridors that lead toward the archives. The kid walked quickly and Morgan was in no mood to run after him but he needed him to stop so he could apologise.

'Hey, kid.' He called, his voice echoing. The kid carried on walking. Morgan was sure he'd sped up a little just to piss him off.

'Kid! Dr Reid!' Morgan called again. The kid walked on.

'Would you just wait up? _Raymond!_' Morgan yelled.

The kid stopped.

When he turned to face him Morgan was both surprised and confused by the look of fury on the kid's face. Sure he'd ragged on him a little in the class and he shouldn't have said something that allowed his peers to laugh at him, but it wasn't that bad.

The kid strode right up to him and it was only then that Morgan noticed that the kid was a little taller than he was.

Then the kid spoke, his voice tremulous and breathy.

'I'm pretty sure this is something I shouldn't say to a colleague _or_ a superior, but you know what _Agent_ Morgan. Fuck you.'

The kid turned and strode out of sight leaving Morgan reeling in his wake.

* * *

The next three weeks were spent on back to back cases. By the time the team were on their way home from the last one Morgan had spent so much time on the jet that he was convinced that he wouldn't be able to sleep at night without the lull of its engines. Relaxing back into his chair he slid his headphones on, closed his eyes and prayed for a break in cases so he could spend some time in DC.

He had consult paperwork stacked a mile high on his desk, Clooney would have adopted his neighbours as new owners by now and he was behind on the renovations of two properties not to mention he'd promised Danny that he'd swing by and visit Michelle.

Morgan's eyes snapped open when he thought of Danny. Thinking about Dan got him thinking about the kid and this got him riled. He'd been shocked when the kid had cursed at him but he was a big boy and he'd had much worse thrown at him, but what really ticked him off was that it had been so uncalled for. Feeling anger curl in his stomach again Morgan resolved to find the kid when he was back at the office and sound him out about the proper way to speak to superiors and about lightening up a little.

'Hey.' Gideon settled into the chair opposite him. 'How're you doing?'

Morgan slid the headphones from his ears. 'OK. Just hoping for a little down time when we get back.' He said.

Gideon smiled. 'It has been a rough couple of weeks, hasn't it?' He said.

Morgan nodded.

Gideon lay a manila folder on the table between them and spread his fingers flat on top of it.

'If we manage to get a lull I was hoping that you could help me Derek.' Gideon smiled across at Morgan.

'Sure. What with?' Morgan said.

'You know that Hotch has managed to negotiate a new team member, well I found someone whom I believe has immense potential and will be of great importance to this team.' Gideon said.

'But?' Morgan asked.

'He's a rookie and he needs a little help.'

Morgan groaned. He and the rest of the team had been holding out for someone who could come in and lighten the load immediately, not a green assed rookie who they'd have to hand hold.

Gideon held his hands up in a placatory gesture. 'He is phenomenal Derek. I've never met anyone like him and I promise you that he will fit. I just need someone to help him with the physical side of the course. Hotch has been tutoring him for his firearms qualification but he's failing physical.'

Morgan sighed.

'I would be saddened to lose him just because of that Derek.' Gideon cajoled.

Morgan reached for the file and flipped it open. A small ID picture of the kid stared back at him.

'Dr Spencer Reid.' Morgan read out. 'Spencer. His name's Spencer?' He asked Gideon.

Gideon nodded.

Morgan closed his eyes and the file. 'Shit.' He swore under his breath as Cadet Nolan's voice echoed in his head.

'_Don't make eye contact guys, but it looks like Rainman's back.'_

Rainman. Ray. _Raymond_.

'Shit.' Morgan repeated. No wonder the kid had been so angry. Morgan's stomach lurched with realisation and the descent of the jet.

* * *

Morgan didn't go home after the jet landed. He decided to clear down some of his files and then head out later to miss the commuter traffic. He was the last in the office by the time he stood to leave. Yawning he grabbed his go bag and jacket and headed down to the training rooms to collect his sweat soaked gym bag, which he felt sure was about to grow legs it had been stuffed in one of the lockers for so long.

The hallways were dim with half the lights turned off but Morgan could see from the flood of yellow pooling in front of the locker room doors that not everyone had left for the evening. Entering the room Morgan saw no one but could hear the run of the showers around the corner. He was hauling his offensive gym bag from the locker when he heard voices below the rush of water. The tone of speech set Morgan on the defensive and he moved to the tiled wall that separated the wet room from the changing benches.

'So Rainman, what's the sitch with you and Gideon?'

Morgan recognised cadet Nolan's voice as it echoed in the ensuing silence.

'Come on. You can tell me doc. I mean what is it? You _doing_ him? 'Cause honest to god man I do _not_ see how you got that spot if you're not doing a little something for the old man.' Nolan continued.

'_Doing him?_ I don't understand what you're implying.' Morgan heard Reid reply.

Nolan laughed. 'Well, you gotta be fucking someone kid and I can't imagine any living, breathing _girl_ picking you up so, hell, you take what you can get right, and all the better if it comes with a nice little job attached.'

Morgan heard Reid draw in a deep breath and the next time he heard his voice it was low and tight with control.

'I'm not engaging in any sexual congress with Agent Gideon but there _is_ something I do for him. Do you want me to do it for you?' Reid asked.

'What? What the hell could I ever want you to do for me?' Nolan said, laughing.

'You're in your mid thirties.' Reid started.

'What?' Nolan repeated dumbly.

'You started out in the military, probably to please your father from whom you learned your aggressive tendencies. Even though you excelled in that position your father never praised you so you switched to law enforcement, most likely SWAT, to see if that would attract his attention. When he still failed to validate your choices you turned to the FBI and set your sights on one of the most coveted positions, the BAU. You find yourself thwarted by someone who is everything your father hated in his male offspring, everything he beat out of you. Your frustrations in your career spill over into your personal life where you pursue an unhealthy amount of women as a way to seek the validation that you lack from your father. Their interest in you works twofold as it reassures you that you are the epitome of masculinity which helps distract you from the worries you have over your latent homosexuality ...'

Reid's lightening fast monologue was abruptly cut short as Morgan heard the unmistakeable sound of flesh meeting tile which was followed by a litany of wet coughing.

Morgan stepped toward the wet room entrance and was nearly bowled over by Nolan who was pushing his way out of the room. Morgan caught him against his chest. Reid was kneeling on the wet floor in front of them, cupping his hand under his bleeding nose.

'What the hell is going on in here?' Morgan said, pushing Nolan away from him.

'Cadet Reid slipped in the shower.' Nolan said, jerking his head toward Reid.

'That right?' Morgan asked Reid.

Reid nodded, his hair and nose dripping as Nolan pushed his way past Morgan and out of the room.

* * *

Reid sat on one of the benches clutching a wad of tissue to his nose and a towel around his waist.

'Where's your stuff?' Morgan asked.

Reid nodded toward a battered brown satchel half hidden under the next bench. Clothes were haphazardly stuffed into it and Morgan sighed as he passed it to him.

'That looks like it's stopped bleeding. Get dressed while I turn the shower off and mop all your blood up.' Morgan said as he turned to the wet room.

He was wiping the last of the bloody smear from the tiled wall of the shower when he heard Reid behind him. Morgan turned and shook his head as he watched him struggle into the largest cardigan he had ever seen. Reid shrugged his shoulders under the chunky knit and then hugged it around his skinny body.

Morgan nodded toward the purpling bruise on Reid's forehead.

'You really gotta be careful waving a loaded profile around like that kid.' Morgan said.

Reid laughed. 'I'm sorry.' He said.

'No problem. It's not the first bloody nose I've tended to.' Morgan replied.

'Not for that. For the profanity. For cursing last time I saw you. I shouldn't have said that word. I know that, but I got mad about the whole _Rainman _thing that Nolan started.' Reid gasped out.

Morgan held his hands up. 'Look kid, Reid, I really didn't know that Raymond wasn't your name and if I did I would never have repeated something as dumb as that.' Morgan said.

Reid nodded. 'Nolan isn't the first person in my life to suggest that I'm autistic. Usually I don't let it get to me. I'd like to hope that when it happens again I'll handle it better.' Reid gave Morgan a small and brief smile, his eyes focusing on anything but Morgan's face.

'Gideon asked you to help me, didn't he?' Reid rushed out.

'Yeah, yeah he did kid.' Morgan said.

'I think I may be beyond help.' Reid said.

'No one is beyond help kid. 'Morgan paused. 'Is that why you're here so late? Trying to catch up?'

Reid huffed his small laugh again. 'No actually. My shower is broken and my apartment super won't fix it again so I had to shower here today. I thought I'd waited long enough for everyone to be gone but apparently not.' Reid said.

'Your super won't fix it _again?_' Morgan repeated.

'He says I twist the faucet too far but it's the only way I can get it hot enough.' Reid nodded.

Morgan sighed. 'Do you have your car with you?' He asked.

'I like to take the train. You meet an interesting cross section of people on the subway.' Reid replied.

Morgan clasped a hand on Reid's shoulder. 'Ok. I'll drop you home, take a look at your shower and tomorrow I will meet you here at 10am and we will start at the beginning.' Morgan walked the kid back to the bench and his sloppy satchel.

'And then you can tell me all about why Gideon thinks you are so special that I gotta tutor you.' Morgan said, smiling.

'I don't think I can answer that Agent Morgan. Compared to the members of the BAU I'm _not_ special. Not special at all.'

**End**

**A/N 1** - Nolan refers to Reid as 'Raymond/Rainman' in reference to the 1988 film 'Rainman' in which Dustin Hoffman plays Raymond Babbitt, a severely autistic man, newly re-united with his brother.

**A/N 2** – I started writing this one shot a long time ago. A week or so ago I read a new chapter in a wip called Crime and Chocolate by Jade R Raven in which she too refers to Reid as Bambi. Not wanting any readers to feel that I had taken this from that fic I tried to replace Bambi with a similar Disney character that reminded me of Reid. Despite my efforts I could not find one that did the job so well. In light of this I'll just have to say that creative minds occasionally think alike! In addition to that I would like to encourage any readers who like Reid/Prentiss to read Crime and Chocolate. You will not be disappointed. It really is an excellent piece of work.


End file.
